Raila Odinga says those who targeted his chopper and motorcade carrying Azimio la Umoja top leaders who had just attended the burial of prominent businessman Mzee Jackson Kibor in Soy Constituency wanted to kill him.
Raila has recounted how he almost lost his life mid-air after the helicopter he was traveling in was pelted with stones by irate youth while at Kamenes in Uasin Gishu, the political base of Deputy President William Ruto, on Friday.
“Jamaa walikuwa wanataka kuua sisi, lakini Mwenyezi Mungu yuko. Shetani ashindwe!” Raila said during an Azimio La Umoja campaign rally in West Pokot County on Saturday.
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The Azimio la Umoja presidential candidate called for peace and an end to political deception terming the attack on his entourage as one orchestrated by his political opponents.
“Tunaanza msafara mpya hatutaki chuki, hatutaki vile vile udanganyifu. Unaona hawa jamaa jana, wanafanyia sisi njama. Sisi hatujapiga mtu yeyote. Wakati kumekuwa na fujo mahali popote, tumelaani,” he recounted.
He wondered why he was stoned when all he had gone to do in Soy was to pay his final respects to fallen businessman Kibor, who is popularly as the Men’s Conference chairman.
“Jana mimi naona vioja, vijana wanakuja, Sisi tulienda pale kusema pole kwa jamii, alafu vijana wanaanza kupiga magari yetu na mawe, mawe inanyesha kama mvua kwa gari yangu.
The Azimio la Umoja presidential candidate painfully recounted how he felt helpless and flummoxed as he watched a huge rock come towards the chopper carrying him mid-air.
“Kutoka pale mimi naingia ndani ya ndege, nikiwa ndani ya ndege naona mtu pale amebeba jiwe kubwa anarusha kwa ndege, mimi naangalia tu inakuja na sina pahali ya kwenda. Inapiga paaa! Mimi nashangaa kitu gani! Unataka kuua baba ya nini? Wewe mtoto unataka kuua baba yako kwa nini? Kitu gani hii, si ni shetani?”
Raila said only Kenyans will decide who Kenya’s next president will be, reiterating that he will accept defeat if he loses in August and challenged his opponents to do the same.
“Sisi tumesema tunataka wakenya ndio wakuwe waamuzi. Ikiwa kama wakenya watakataa tutasema tu sawa sawa. Tukishindwa sawa, kama wewe umeshinda sawa. Lakini wewe vile vile kubali ya kwamba tukikushinda vile tutakushinda wewe chukua virago vyako enda nyumbani. Nataka sisi sote tuungane pamoja kama wakenya. Tukae pamoja kama watu moja.”
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Saturday linked Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi, Soi MP Caleb Kositany and Uasin Gishu County Assembly Speaker David Kiplagat to the violence and summoned them to be questioned on their alleged involvement.
